Washington Capitals: Draft History in Context, Part VII -- Take Your Positions: Defensemen

Working our way from the net out in our look at the Washington Capitals draft history over the 2001-2010 period, we turn now to defensemen. 

Over the ten-year period the Caps selected at least one defenseman in every draft except in 2003.  There were 27 defensemen drafted in all with a high of five selected in each of the 2004 and 2005 entry drafts.  As you can see, it is a position that has received special attention.  Thirteen of the 27 defensemen drafted were selected in the first or second round:

Even in those two rounds, though, there was a different experience.  The Caps selected seven defensemen in the first round over the ten-year period.  Except for two rather spectacular misses, they did rather well.  Five defensemen have combined for more than 1,800 games of NHL experience.  Three of them are still with the team – Mike Green, Karl Alzner, and John Carlson – and form the cornerstone of the defense. 

Green has established himself as one of the premier offensive defensemen in the game, despite a series of injuries that have carved large chunks of games out of his resume.  Since the 2004-2005 lockout, only four defensemen have more goals from the blue line than Green, and all of them have played in at least 95 more games over that span. 

Alzner continues to develop as a sound defensive defenseman.  He is also one of the most reliable, having played in each and every game of his three full seasons in the NHL. 

Carlson has had episodes of poor play, but he also has shown stretches that suggest he can grow into being one of the best two-way defensemen in the league.  He shares Alzner’s reliability, also having played in each and every contest of his three full seasons in the league.

There were those two misses, though.  Sasha Pokulok was taken with the 15^th overall pick in 2005.  Four years after his selection, in July 2009, here is what we wrote about him:

On the day he was selected, folks in Caps Nation could be forgiven for asking, “Sasha who?” To call Pokulok a “reach” would be classic understatement. Pokulok was the 39th-ranked North American skater in the final Central Scouting Service rankings. Pokulok would go on to play one more season at Cornell University, then he turned pro. It was a disaster. He sustained a concussion in his first game with the Hershey Bears, then missed four months before returning to action as a member of the South Carolina Stingrays in the ECHL. He played less than 20 games before suffering a second concussion. They were injuries from which he would not really recover. Even if he was in perfect health, he lost too much developmental time. Through the 2008-2009 season, Pokulok played in only 97 regular season games over three seasons in the AHL and NHL, and another 29 playoff games (all with South Carolina). The Capitals declined to retain rights to Pokulok this past June, his never having appeared in an NHL game.

Last season, Pokulok played for the Cornwall Riverkings of the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey.

If Pokulok was a curiosity in his selection, Joe Finley seemed picked for a different brand of hockey.  When he was taken with the 27^th overall pick in the 2005 draft, it might have been with a much more physical brand of hockey in mind in the league as a whole.  The NHL was still in the “clutch-and-grab” era where defensemen could abuse those who would dare skate into the crease.  Unfortunately for the Caps and Finley, the league change the rules and the dimensions of the rink coming out of the 2004-2005 lockout with an eye toward opening up offense.  The new environment did not suit the larger species of defenseman (at least those not named “Chara”), and a 6’7”, 245 pounds, Finley was an endangered species before he got out of his teen years.  The Caps experimented with Finley at left wing briefly, but he would never appear in a game for the Caps.  He was invited to training camp with the Buffalo Sabres in 2011 and caught on long enough to play five games with the Sabres.  However, he was waived by Buffalo and claimed by the New York Islanders, where he played 16 games last season.

If the first round picks at the position were big hits or big misses for the Caps (mostly hits), the second round has been decent…just not for the Caps.  Two of the six defensemen taken in the second round over the ten-year period have played in the NHL (52.4 percent of all players taken in the second round over the 2001-2010 period have appeared in the league).  Only one, though, has played for the Caps.

Nathan Paetsch was taken late in the second round in 2001 by the Caps.  His career with the Caps never got off the ground, contract issues resulting in his going back into the draft pool in 2003 where he was taken by the Buffalo Sabres.  He has 167 games of NHL experience with Buffalo and the Columbus Blue Jackets, but he spent two of the last three seasons in the AHL and another season in Germany.

The Caps are hoping that fortune shines brighter on Dmitry Orlov, taken with the 55^th pick overall in 2009 out of Metallurg Novokuznetsk out of the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia.  Orlov’s progress was steady – two more seasons in Russia, moving to Hershey at the end of his last season in the KHL to join the Bears. Then, in something of an unexpected turn, he was called up to the Caps (a product what was the latest injury to Mike Green) and played in 60 games for the club in 2011-2012.

He might have stuck for the entire 2012-2013 season had: a) the 2012-2013 season started on time, and b) had he not been concussed in the AHL Showcase game between Hershey and the Norfolk Admirals at Verizon Center in December.  The combination of events limited him to only five games with the Caps this past season. 

One could argue that the Caps got value from one other defenseman taken in the second round.  Theo Ruth was taken 46^th overall in 2007.  He never played a game in the Caps’ system though.  He was traded to Columbus in 2008 for Sergei Fedorov, who would be a critical piece in the Caps' late-season playoff run in 2008 and who would spend his last full season of his career in Washington in 2008-2009.

After that, what success the Caps have had in drafting defensemen has been rare and infrequent.  Sami Lepisto, Johnny Oduya, and…well, that’s it.  Of the other 17 defensemen taken in the second round or later, those are the only two who have appeared in the NHL.  Oduya, taken in the seventh round in 2001,  has 511 games of NHL experience, none of it with the Caps.  He was released by the club in 2006.  Lepisto, a third round pick in 2004, did play in 14 games for the Caps, but was traded in 2009 for a 2010 fifth-round draft pick.  After 176 games in the NHL, he signed a contract with HC LEV Praha of the KHL in January 2013.

That leaves 15 other defensemen drafted who have neither appeared in an NHL game, nor brought back any value in trade.  What is striking about the lack of success is that there is a disturbing number who weren’t close to getting NHL ice time.  Josh Godfrey, taken high in the second round in 2007 (34^th overall), has a total of 64 games at the AHL level over six seasons.  Keith Seabrook, another second round pick (52^nd overall in 2006) last played in the AHL in 2011-2012.  He signed with Val Pusteria HC in September 2012, but retired from the sport two months later.  Yet another second round pick – Eric Mestery (57^th overall in 2008) – did not last as long as Seabrook before retiring from the sport.  Two years after he was drafted he was out of the Caps’ system and retired in August 2010, having never played a professional game at any level.

In the end, the Caps’ success in drafting defensemen is mixed.  Their first round performance yielded value – three solid defensemen still with the club and two others with a combined 887 games of experience (Steve Eminger and Jeff Schultz).  After that, however, the Capitals do not have much to show for their efforts (the jury still being out on Patrick Wey, taken in the fourth round in 2009).  Twenty defensemen taken after the first round have a combined 79 NHL games played with the Caps.  “One-and-done” seems to apply not only to the Caps’ unfortunate playoff history but to the rounds in which they were able to draft contributing defensemen.

Washington Capitals: Draft History in Context, Part VI -- Take Your Positions: Goaltender

Now that you have thoroughly digested our look back at the Washington Capitals’ draft history by round over the 2001-2010 period, we return to our look at the draft to examine those drafts by position.  We will work our way out from the net.  That means…goalies.

As we have seen, the Caps selected 89 players from the NHL Entry Draft over the 2001-2010 period.  Of that group, ten were goaltenders.  The numbers might be small, but there is a consistency about them.  Like the number “eight.”  In eight of the ten years the Caps selected a goaltender in the draft (two in 2002 and 2006, none in 2003 and 2009).

The Caps have not shown a particular preference in where their drafted goalies were selected.  Five of the ten taken over these ten years were selected in the first four rounds, another five in the last five rounds.

That breakdown parallels the time frame in one respect.  Four of the five goalies taken in the bottom half of the draft (rounds five through nine) were picked in the first half of the ten-year period:

• 2001: Robert Müller (9^th round/275^th overall)
• 2002: Robert Gherson (5/145)
• 2004: Justin Mrazek (8/230)
• 2005: Daren Machesney (5/143)

Only Dan Dunn (6/154) was taken in the second half of the ten-year period.

None of the five have appeared in an NHL game.  As a group, they have a combined 187 games of AHL experience (all from Gherson and Machesney), although none played at that level in the 2012-2013 season.  Müller, Caps fans might remember, passed away all too soon in 2009, the victim of a brain tumor.

The second group of five is, as one might expect from their collective higher draft positions, more accomplished.  Only Daren Machesney, selected in the second round in 2002, has not appeared in an NHL game.  The others, with the regular season NHL experience, include:

• 2006: Semyon Varlamov (1^st round/23^rd overall), 147 games
• 2006: Michal Neuvirth (2/34), 121 games
• 2008: Braden Holtby (4/93), 57 games
• 2010: Philipp Grubauer (4/112), 2 games

There is, however, an odd dynamic playing out with these selections.  First, three of them already have spent time as the Caps’ number one goaltender – Varlamov (when he was not injured), Neuvirth (when he was), and Holtby.  But their ascension to that position was not clean or simple.  The Caps have had to dip into the free agent market along the way.  Jose Theodore was signed in 2008 to a two-year contract because Olaf Kolzig was gone after spending 16 years with the Caps, and Varlamov was not ready.  After Varlamov was traded in 2011, Tomas Vokoun was signed to a one-year deal because, despite his playing in the majority of the Caps’ games in the 2010-2011 season, Neuvirth might not have been quite ready in the 2011-2012 season to be the permanent solution at the position.  The Caps were buying time for development.

Neuvirth, in fact, might have been passed by with the development of Braden Holtby.  Taken in the fourth round in 2008, Holtby’s rise through the system has been swift.  After a superb playoff performance in 2012, he took over the number one goaltender job for the 2013 season.

You might expect that a team that chooses to build from the draft would feature drafted goaltenders as their number one in the depth chart.  The Caps, in fact have done just that, going back into the dim reaches of time.  Almost 900 games of the 1,196 contests since the 1997-1998 season have been played with goaltenders drafted by the Caps.  Of course, the large majority of those were played by Olaf Kolzig, but this is a team with a history of sticking with goalies it drafts.

If there is a disturbing subplot to this it is that the Caps have burned through three draftees as number one goaltenders since the 2010-2011 season.  Varlamov could not hold the job, owing in large part to injuries, and Neuvirth just could not seem to grab the position by the throat.  Braden Holtby took over when Neuvirth (who took over for an injured Tomas Vokoun) was injured late in the 2011-2012 season and has held it since.  At the moment, he seems most likely of the three to build a larger resume as the Caps’ number one netminder.

There is a logic in the manner in which the Caps have drafted at this position.  In the first half of the 2001-2010 period they had a durable, high-performing number one goaltender in Olaf Kolzig and could populate the back-up position with lower cost free agents (a Craig Billington) or developmental projects (Sebastien Charpentier).  The club could take a flyer, so to speak, on longer shot, late round picks.  They also thought they had a potential replacement for Kolzig in Maxime Ouellet, who they obtained in trade in 2002. 

Ouellet did not work out for the club, playing in only six games in a Caps sweater, all in the 2003-2004 season.  With Kolzig aging and no clear heir apparent, there might have been a higher sense of urgency about filling the position from within.  Higher-round draft picks at the position were a reasonable course of action, and starting in 2006, with the selections of Varlamov and Neuvirth, this was what unfolded.

In the end, there is no such thing as too much goaltending.  Oh, you can pay too much for goaltending (Mr. Luongo?  Mr. Price?  Mr Ward?...please raise your hands), but you can’t have too much of it.  Consider that way back in the 1994-1995 season, in a 48-game season no less, the Caps dressed three drafted goaltenders.  Jim Carey (2^nd round, 1992), Olaf Kolzig (1^st round, 1989), and Byron Dafoe (2^nd round, 1989) all saw action.  Three seasons later the Caps were banking on a goalie they traded for – Bill Ranford (sending Jim Carey to Boston in that trade).  When Ranford was injured in the first game of the 1997-1998 season, Olaf Kolzig – one of the drafted goaltenders – took over, and the rest was history (including Ranford).

In that sense, plus the fact that the Caps have so much invested in cap room at other positions, getting value out of draft picks at the goaltender position is essential for success on the ice.  The Caps have gotten that out of their picks over the 2006-2010 period.  In 2013-2014 they will pay just $4,350,000 in cap room at the position with Holtby and Neuvirth tending goal.  There are 16 individual netminders who will have larger cap hits.  At this position the Caps have been quite efficient in their draft performance.

Washington Capitals: Alex and the Singular Deal, a "Grim Fairy Tale"

“Alex was coming off his rookie contract, and he could have signed a four- or five-year deal.  Sidney Crosby had signed a five-year deal.  Then [Ovechkin] would have been an unrestricted free agent. We talked to him and we told him we would give him another year, to make it six years.  That was the first deal we negotiated, and that is why it came to $9 million.  Crosby did five years at $8.7 [million].  We were buying a year of free agency — $9 million a year over six years.

“We were all happy.  We shook hands.  We had a deal.  Then it was, ‘Do you want to stay longer?’  And it was, ‘Sure, what do you have in mind?’  Then we did some research and asked, what is the average free agent deal, how long is it?  Last year there were several seven year deals.  So we thought, why not just negotiate his free agent deal now?"

That was Ted Leonsis, founder, chairman, majority owner, and chief executive officer of Monumental Sports and Entertainment on the day Alex Ovechkin was signed to a 13-year, $124 million contract by the Washington Capitals in January 2008.  It was, and it remains, the richest deal ever for an NHL player.  But, as you can see, the contract was negotiated in two parts – an extension and a “free agency” deal.  With what has transpired over the last year, we are left to wonder, what might have happened if the second part of that deal had not been negotiated…

OVECHKIN LOOMS LARGE OVER NHL DRAFT

Washington, June 29 (TPPPress) – Although the signs around Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, proclaim that the NHL Entry Draft is the main event this weekend, the big story is off the ice.  In the weeks since the Washington Capitals were eliminated by the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup playoffs, speculation has been running rampant over the future of Capitals star forward Alex Ovechkin.

Ovechkin, the league’s leading goal scorer in the abbreviated 2013 season and winner of the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, signed a six-year contract to play for the Capitals in 2008.  That contract, which pays Ovechkin $54 million, will expire upon the conclusion of the 2013-2014 season.  For the Capitals, who have been silent on any progress toward a new deal, stand to lose Ovechkin to unrestricted free agency if a new deal is not consummated before the end of next season.

Hockey media in North America and Europe have not lacked for rumors, speculation, or theories on what might become of Ovechkin.  A story emerged last week outlining the contours of a possible deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs that would have sent Ovechkin to Toronto in exchange for first round draft picks in 2013 and 2014, and forward James van Riemsdyk.  There has been speculation of a possible return to Russia to play in the Kontinental Hockey League, where he played for Dynamo Moscow during the 2012-2013 NHL lockout.

In any case, Ovechkin looms large over the proceedings of the draft, where trades often upstage the draft picks themselves.  The choices he and the Capitals make over the next few days, or perhaps months, will ripple through the league and perhaps change the fortunes of at least two clubs – the Capitals and any trading partner with whom they can deal – for years to come.

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THE SILENCE WAS DEAFENING

Newark, July 1 (TPPPress) – The 51^st NHL Entry Draft came and went on Sunday with the usual images of fresh faced teenagers hugging family members and striding to the podium after their selection, their symbolic first steps toward a career in the National Hockey League. 

But the biggest noise of the weekend was silence.  Although it has been the subject of much speculation and commentary over the past several weeks, Washington forward Alex Ovechkin was not traded on draft day.  The Washington Capitals held their star forward and all of their draft picks, making for a no-news day for the club, except for the release of the biographies of the young men they selected in the draft.

On the matter of Ovechkin’s future, the hockey world will now adjust its focus to figuring out how Ovechkin, the Capitals, 29 other teams in the NHL, and the Kontinental Hockey League navigate through the weeks and months to come with Ovechkin about to play in the final year of his six-year, $54 million contract with the Capitals.

There was some discussion in the media after the draft ended that the Capitals might consider a compliance buyout of Ovechkin’s contract, but an unnamed source close to the club dismissed that alternative emphatically.  According to the source, “The Caps might as well just call in [the 2013-2014] season on the ice and at the gate if they did that,” noting also that the Caps would enjoy no return from any possible trade that might yet take place.

Nevertheless, Ovechkin’s future is very much uncertain.  It is possible that while no trade was consummated at the draft, that discussions might bear fruit down the road, either before the start of the 2013-2014 season or at the NHL’s 2013-2014 trading deadline next February.  There is the possibility that the Caps will re-sign the league’s reigning Hart Trophy winner to a contract extension, but this seems problematic given that five-seasons after signing his six-year deal, making Ovechkin the highest paid player in the league in terms of average annual value of the contract, he remains the league’s highest paid player, almost $1 million per year more than Pittsburgh Penguin forward Sidney Crosby.

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DEVILS’ ILYA KOVALCHUK ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT FROM NHL

July 11 (NHL.com) – Stating a desire to return home to Russia, New Jersey Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk on Thursday announced his retirement from the NHL.

"This decision was something I have thought about for a long time going back to the lockout and spending the year in Russia," Kovalchuk said in a statement released by the team. "Though I decided to return this past season, [general manager] Lou [Lamoriello] was aware of my desire to go back home and have my family there with me. The most difficult thing for me is to leave the New Jersey Devils, a great organization that I have a lot of respect for, and our fans that have been great to me."

Lamoriello said Kovalchuk, 30, signed his voluntary retirement papers, and the team has voided the remaining 12 years of the contract with the player. The voiding of the remainder of the deal opens the door for Kovalchuk to play in the Kontinental Hockey League this season.

Kovalchuk, a native of Tver, Russia, served as captain of SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL during the lockout last season and had 42 points in 36 games.

Lamoriello said he was not surprised by Kovalchuk's decision, saying talks on this issue began in January.

"This goes back to the lockout and prior to coming back, his thought process of staying in Russia was there," Lamoriello said Thursday during a conference call. "He was here a little late [for training camp] and then there was no conversation whatsoever throughout the year about it. Then it recently resurfaced, and his desire was to retire from the National Hockey League…”

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BLAME LOCKOUT FOR KOVALCHUK BOLTING DEVS

Larry Brooks, New York Post

July 14 (NY Post) – “…On Jan. 4, the day before the marathon negotiating session commenced that would lead to settlement of the lockout in the wee hours of Jan. 6, the NHLPA dissuaded Kovalchuk, Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk and Evgeni Malkin from issuing a joint statement declaring their intent to remain in Russia for at least the remainder of the KHL season regardless of whether or when the NHL reopened.

The Post, which first reported that news, has been told the Players’ Association would have been prepared to support the rights of these players to play indefinitely in a different league under contracts signed during the NHL lockout if the timing had been different and would not have created a significant last-minute obstacle to settlement…”

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KOVALCHUK SIGNS WITH SKA ST. PETERSBURG OF K.H.L.

Jeff A. Klein, New York Times

July 15 (NY Times) – “Ilya Kovalchuk walked away from $77 million when he retired from the Devils last week at age 30, citing a desire to return to Russia with his family. On Monday, he signed a four-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League.

SKA did not disclose the terms of the deal in announcing Kovalchuk’s signing. Alexander Medvedev, the former president of SKA, told the Russian daily Sport-Express that Kovalchuk’s earnings would be “absolutely comparable” to what he would have made in four years with the Devils.

Kovalchuk’s salary with the Devils averaged $6.67 million a year over 15 years. But the deal was structured so that he would have received $11.3 million the next two seasons, $11.6 million in 2015-16 and $11.8 million in 2016-17. That contract was rendered void when Kovalchuk signed his N.H.L. voluntary retirement papers.

Even if Kovalchuk does not make as much in St. Petersburg in raw dollar terms as he would have made in Newark, he will retain much more of it. Taxes are far lower in Russia than they are in North America, an incentive that has in the past helped induce Eastern European players like Jaromir Jagr and Alexander Radulov to jump to the K.H.L. from the N.H.L…”

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FOR THE CAPITALS, A CROSSROADS       

Washington, September 22 (TPPPress) – In our look at the biggest story for each team as the National Hockey League prepares to embark on its 2013-2014 season, we turn to the Washington Capitals.  As the exhibition season slowly winds its way toward opening night in early October, all eyes are focused on the Caps.

It is not because the Caps are considered to be among the favorites to win a Stanley Cup in the spring of 2014.  The big story for the Caps concerns their reigning league most valuable player, Alex Ovechkin.  In 2008 Ovechkin signed a six-year, $54 million contract with the club that would carry him though the upcoming 2013-2014 season.  As Ovechkin prepares to play in the last year of  that contract, there is no lack of rumor or commentary about his status or his future. 

Although the Capitals are famously tight-lipped about any contract negotiations with their players, unnamed sources said to be close to the club say that the talks between club and player on a contract extension have gone nowhere. 

The matter is complicated further by the voluntary retirement from the NHL of fellow Russian Ilya Kovalchuk earlier this summer.  Kovalchuk signed a four-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL days after his retirement, and the hockey world has been commenting on the possibility of other Russian players – most notably Ovechkin – following the same path.

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RE-ALIGNMENT DOES NOT AGREE WITH CAPITALS    

Washington, October 30 (TPPPress) – Less than a month into the 2013-2014 NHL season, the Washington Capitals find themselves looking up at the other seven teams of the Atlantic Division of the NHL’s Eastern Conference.  The Caps stumbled out of the gate, winless in their first five games of the season (0-4-1) and have mulled since to a record of 2-7-1.

Special teams have been the Caps’ undoing in the early going.  Their power play, the league’s best in the abbreviated 2012-2013 season, has just three goals in 37 chances through ten games.  Alex Ovechkin, who led the league in power play goals last season, has yet to record one.  Penalty-killing has been equally disappointing, ranking 29^th in the league at 75.7 percent.

When asked recently if the Caps’ early season frustration is at least in part a product of the continuing uncertainty about Ovechkin’s future with the club, head coach Adam Oates stated, “sure, it is a part of it.  These guys are human, but they are professionals, too.  And we expect them to focus every night.  We’ll work our way out of it.”  That task would be made much easier with resolution of the issue of Ovechkin’s contract.

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OVECHKIN TRADE TALK HEATS UP

Washington, December 16 (TPPPress) – With the Washington Capitals struggling in their first year in the newly realigned Atlantic Division of the NHL, rumors have been surfacing with increased frequency concerning trades involving Alex Ovechkin.

Ovechkin, who signed a six-year, $54 million contract in 2008, is in the last year of that deal and has not yet agreed to an extension with the club.  Filling the vacuum has been speculation over possible destinations for Ovechkin either as a rental for a contender for the remainder of this season or to a club who might be expected to spend lavishly to retain his services for a longer term.

Complicating the matter is the alternative that is the Kontinental Hockey League.  During the 2012-2013 lockout, Ovechkin skated for Dynamo Moscow, and this could be an alternative when his current contract expires. 

The Capitals have been adamant that they have no intention of trading Ovechkin and that they are in frequent discussions with Ovechkin about a contract extension. That possibility might have made other teams skittish to trade for Ovechkin, but that has not stopped the rumor mill.  The latest of these, reported in Canada yesterday, would have the Capitals trading Ovechkin to the Montreal Canadiens for prospect defenseman Nathan Beaulieu, forward Lars Eller, and a first round draft pick in either 2014 or 2015.

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NO PROGRESS IN OVECHKIN CONTRACT TALKS

Washington, February 1 (TPPPress) – Another day, another report of no new progress in the continuing negotiations between the Washington Capitals and star forward Alex Ovechkin over a new contract.  Ovechkin, who currently leads the NHL in goals and is second in points after a slow start, would be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.

Neither side has commented officially about the ongoing negotiations, but unofficial sources speculate that the sticking point has become term, the Capitals preferring to lock up the 28-year old winger to a seven or eight year contract, while Ovechkin is reported to prefer a shorter term.

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HAS OVECHKIN ALREADY AGREED TO KHL DEAL?

Washington, February 11 (TPPPress) – In a story published late yesterday, Russian press reported that Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin and Dynamo Moscow have come to a “handshake agreement” that when his current NHL contract expires he will return to Russia to play for the club in the Kontinental Hockey League.

The terms of the rumored deal were not revealed in the report, and this fueled immediate speculation that with the NHL trade deadline looming, the report was floated to sabotage any trades of the NHL star to a club that might wish to sign him to a longer term NHL contract. 

Neither Ovechkin nor the Capitals commented on the report of a deal.

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FOR THE CAPITALS, IT’S NOW OR…

Washington, February 24 (TPPPress) – With the NHL trade deadline fast approaching, all eyes are on the Washington Capitals.  Having failed to come to an agreement with forward Alex Ovechkin on the terms of a new contract, there is a growing consensus among observers that the Capitals will listen to offers.

One widely circulating report this morning has Ovechkin being sent to the Chicago Blackhawks for prospect forward Teuvo Teravainen, defenseman Nick Leddy, and a first round draft pick in either 2014 or 2015 and a second round pick in 2015.

Other teams said to be interested or assembling offers include the Toronto Maple Leafs, the New York Rangers, the Montreal Canadiens, the Detroit Red Wings, and the Vancouver Canucks.

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OVECHKIN MOTOR CITY BOUND

Detroit, February 26 (TPPPress) – The Detroit Red Wings made a statement earlier today that their days of contending for Stanley Cup championships are not quite over.  The Red Wings, in a dogfight with the Boston Bruins for the lead in the NHL’s Northeast Division, obtained forward Alex Ovechkin from the Washington Capitals for 2013 first round draft pick Anthony Mantha, the Red Wings’ first round draft pick in 2014, and a second round draft pick in 2015.

Detroit General Manager Ken Holland could barely hide his excitement over securing Ovechkin for the stretch run of the 2013-2014 season, saying “obviously, we are thrilled to have a player of Alex’ talent skating with us.  We think that he and Pavel Datsyuk will make a formidable duo for any team to match up against.”  Holland said that he would begin talks with Ovechkin immediately on the matter of a contract extension.

Ovechkin echoed Holland after he touched down in Detroit late this afternoon, where a large crowd was waiting to welcome him to the Motor City.  “I’ve always wondered what it would be like playing alongside [Datsyuk].  Now I can live that dream,” he said. 

In Washington, General Manager George McPhee was subdued, clearly disappointed over losing the centerpiece of his club.  “Alex has meant so much to the Capitals and to the community since he came to us in 2005.  Not winning a Stanley Cup during his years here ranks among my biggest disappointments in hockey, but in the end we felt that without a contract we had to receive some return for him,” he said.  The comment was an apparent reference to the fact that the Capitals lost Alexander Semin and Mike Ribeiro to free agency with no return on their departures in recent years. 

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CAPITALS ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFFS

Washington, March 23 (TPPPress) – The New York Rangers came from behind last night to defeat the Washington Capitals, 4-2, and thus eliminate the Capitals from the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs.  It is the first year the Caps failed to make the post-season since 2007, ending a six-year string of playoff appearances.

Washington broke on top early on a pair of first period goals, one coming from Mike Green on a power play 3:14 into the contest.  The other came on a late goal from Tom Wilson with just eight seconds left in the period.  For both players it was their 14^th goal of the season.

The Rangers came back with three goals in the second over a 2:44 span, starting with a shorthanded goal by Derek Stepan at the 4:44 mark.  Rick Nash tied the game 33 seconds later when he exited the penalty box and took a lead pass from Marc Staal, beating goalie Braden Holtby with a wrist shot over his blocker.  The Rangers scored again at the 7:28 mark when Ryan McDonagh ripped a slap shot over Holtby’s glove, ending the goalie’s evening.  Ryan Callahan ended the scoring with an empty net goal with 27 seconds left in the contest.

*****

OVECHKIN’S LATE TALLY CLINCHES NORTHEAST DIVISION FOR RED WINGS

Boston, April 5 (TPPPress) – With less than three minutes remaining in the Detroit Red Wings’ contest against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden, Detroit’s Alex Ovechkin scored the tie-breaking goal in what was a 2-2 contest to give the Red Wings a 3-2 victory, and in the process clinching the Northeast Division title for the visitors.

For Ovechkin, the goal capped a three-point night.  He assisted on goals by Pavel Datsyuk and Jonathan Ericsson earlier in the contest.  Patrice Bergeron and Jarome Iginla scored goals for the Bruins.

Ovechkin’s goal allowed him to reclaim the goal-scoring lead from Steven Stamkos.  Both players started the evening with 46 goals apiece.

Detroit’s win moved them to within two points of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the race to capture the points lead in the Eastern Conference.

*****

OVECHKIN, RED WINGS TALKS CONTINUE, BUT KHL IS STILL IN THE GAME

Detroit, June 15 (TPPPress) – The Detroit Red Wings and Alex Ovechkin are said to be close to a new deal that would keep the league’s reigning Hart Trophy winner in the Motor City for five more seasons.  An unnamed source with the Red Wings said that there remain some obstacles to a deal, notably a no movement clause and the scale of payments over the life of the deal, but the source noted that these could be settled in the coming days.

The Kontinental Hockey League has not given up on snaring its second NHL megastar in two summers, though.  Last year, Ilya Kovalchuk resigned from the NHL and signed a deal with SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL, and the league continues to press Ovechkin to return to Russia, according to reports from Russian press.  Ovechkin played with Dynamo Moscow of the KHL during the 2012-2013 NHL lockout.

* Note...all that you have read here, with the exception of a few cited media reports, is fiction, merely the musings of one pepperoni, anchovy, and marshmallow fluff pizza-addled writer.

Washington Capitals: Draft History in Context, Part V -- The Late Show

We are up to Part V in a look back at the draft performance of the Washington Capitals over the 2001-2010 period.  This look back might be termed, “The Late Show” – the late rounds of the draft, rounds six through nine (the NHL employed a nine round draft in the years 2001-2004, seven rounds thereafter).  This is the territory of the long-shot, players who might have been overlooked or whose path to the NHL is going to be determined more by will and circumstance than their comparative skill levels.

For the Washington Capitals these late rounds have been a mixed bag, the good and the bad.  Over the 2001-2010 period the Caps selected 29 players out of the sixth through ninth rounds.  Of that group, seven have appeared in at least one NHL game, and three of them have appeared in more than 100 games.  Here is the list (ranked by overall selection):

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There are a total of 861 games played in the NHL among that group in those four rounds, far more NHL games played than the total of rounds two through five (724).  There is, though, some hidden drama in the Caps’ version of The Late Show.  First there is Johnny Oduya, who is an object lesson in the difference between “drafting” success” and “developmental” success.  Oduya was selected in the seventh round of the 2001 Entry Draft out of Victoriaville in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.  Oduya, who was born in Stockholm, Sweden, had just spent the 2000-2001 year in the QMJHL split between the Moncton Wildcats and the Victoriaville Tigres.

In the year after his draft he returned to Sweden to play with Hammarby IF, the team for which he played before coming across to North America to play in the QMJHL.  The team and player could not seem to get on the same page, and Oduya was released from the Caps’ system.  He signed as a free agent with the New Jersey Devils in July 2006 and has since played in 511 regular season games for the Devils, the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets, and the Chicago Blackhawks, averaging a shade more than 20 minutes of ice time per game over his career.  There is also the Stanley Cup on his resume, won this past season with the Blackhawks, with whom he averaged almost 23 minutes of ice time per game.

If Oduya is the one that got away, Tim Kennedy is the one Caps never had, and probably a good thing at that.  Kennedy was selected in the sixth round (181^st overall) in the 2005 Entry Draft and was traded immediately (the same day) to the Buffalo Sabres for a sixth round draft pick in the 2006 Entry Draft.  That is the kind of deal that can fly so low below the radar that it crashes into a hillside.  And in 2009-2010 that crash on the hillside might have had a Capitals logo in the wreckage when Kennedy finished 10-16-26 in 78 games for the Sabres in his rookie season, tied for 12^th in points among rookies with the likes of Evander Kane and Ryan O’Reilly.

That was Kennedy’s high-water mark, though, at least to this point in his career.  His entry level contract expired at the end of that rookie season, and he became involved in a dispute with the club over the extension.  He went to arbitration and won a $1,000,000 judgment.  The club walked away from it, placing him on waivers, then buying out his contract when he cleared waivers.  Since then, Kennedy has played in only 46 NHL games over three seasons with two clubs (Florida and San Jose).

Meanwhile, there is that sixth round pick for whom Kennedy was traded.  And that brings us to the third member of The Late Show to reach the 100-games played mark in the NHL among Caps draft picks.  Mathieu Perreault was selected in the sixth round (177^th overall) in the 2006 Entry Level draft.  Perreault served his apprenticeship with two seasons at Acadie-Bathurst Titan (the team with shich he was playing in the QMJHL when he was drafted by the Caps), then a season with the Hershey Bears in the AHL before splitting time with the Caps and Bears in the 2009-2010 season (77 games in Hershey, including 21 in the Calder Cup playoffs, 21 with the Caps).  He split time between the Bears (40 games, including six in the Calder Cup playoffs) and the Caps (35 games) in the 2010-2011 season.  He made the jump for good in the 2011-2012 season, playing 64 games with Washington and another four in the Stanley Cup playoffs.  To date, he has 159 NHL games on his resume, plus another 11 post-season games with 33 career regular season goals and 70 points.  By way of comparison, Kennedy has only 31 points in 125 regular season games.

But how have the Caps done compared to their peers in the NHL?  Here is the list of clubs, ranked by the total number of picks made in the sixth through ninth rounds in the 2001-2010 period:

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The Caps rank in the middle of the pack in total selections over this period (tied for 12^th), do about the same in terms of their picks getting to the NHL (tied for 11^th), and are in the same ball park in getting players who reach the 100-games played mark (tied for 13^th).  Ditto for total games played (16^th), goals (18^th), and total points (18^th).  This is a curious part of the draft, though.  One would expect these to be the longest shots of the draft, by definition. But they are not substantially longer (9.4 percent of players drafted have played in at least 100 games) than the odds in the fourth and fifth rounds (10.3 percent).

What is odd about this group concerns something we touched on in the look at fourth and fifth round picks – the notion of a “reliable” player, one who has played in at least 100 NHL games and has recorded 20 goals and 50 points.  Recall that in the fourth and fifth rounds we noted 30 such skaters.  Here, in the sixth through ninth rounds there are 42 such skaters.  The number of such players is almost identical (4.88 percent of all skaters selected) to that in the fourth and fifth round (4.86 percent of all skaters selected).  Here is that group:

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And even if there are players who just miss that threshold, what is also worth noting is the number of players who have cobbled together a lasting career out of this tranche of draft picks.  No fewer than 20 skaters have logged more than 400 games in the NHL out of the sixth through ninth rounds.  Included among them are such players as:

• Dennis Seidenberg (2001 – 6^th round/172^nd overall)
• Ryane Clowe (2001 – 6/175)
• Marek Zidlicky (2001 – 6/176)
• Andrew Alberts (2001 -  6/179)
• Jussi Jokinen (2001 – 6/192)
• Brooks Laich (2001 – 6/193)
• Johnny Oduya (2001 – 7/221)
• Milan Jurcina (2001 – 8/241)
• Ian White (2002 – 6/191)
• Maxime Talbot (2002 – 8/234)
• Dennis Wideman (2002 – 8/241)
• Bruno Gerais (2003 – 6/182)
• Joe Pavelski (2003 – 7/205)
• Kyle Brodziak (2003 – 7/214)
• Tobias Enstrom (2003 – 8/239)
• Dustin Byfuglien (2003 – 8/245)
• Shane O’Brien (2003 – 8/250)
• Chris Campoli (2004 – 7/227)
• Mark Streit (2004 – 9/262)
• Daniel Winnik (2004 – 9/265)

As the draft years indicate, it takes some time in the developmental phase to get a foothold to be able to reach that threshold.  Then there are the goalies.  There is a respectable group here who have compiled at least 100 games on their respective resumes:

• Pasi Nurminen (2001 – 6/189)
• Cristobal Huet (2001 – 7/213)
• Martin Gerber (2001 – 7/232)
• Fredrik Norrena (2002- 7/213)
• Jaroslav Halak (2003 – 9/271)
• Brian Elliott (2003 – 9/291)
• Pekka Rinne (2004 – 8/258)

In the end, it is certainly possible that as refinements and improvements in scouting are found and implemented, finding such players in the late rounds will become increasingly rare.  The sorting out of the population of draft picks would mean than such players as might have been found in the sixth or seventh rounds would be taken in higher rounds.  But in this group, there not only have been reliable players but the occasional upper-end contributor or even star (had we included 2000 in this review, we could have captured goalie Henrik Lundqvist, a seventh round pick in that year).

The Caps have not struggled as much, relative to their peers, as they did in the second through fifth rounds.  They have drafted decently here, even if Mathieu Perreault is the only product of this tranche of draft picks making any meaningful contributions to the organization to date among those picks.  Perhaps there is a player drafted here of more recent vintage who can make the leap from The Late Show to prime time.

Washington Capitals D-Camp 2013: Team White vs. Team Red, July 12th

It was a good day to wear red at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, and we don’t just mean the fan apparel.   Team Red won today’s intrasquad scrimmage by a 7-3 margin on this, the penultimate day of Caps Development Camp 2013.

From the time Andre Burakovsky of Team Red faced off with Justin Larson of Team White to start the contest, it was going to be a long day for the men in white.  Team White did have some early success early, but a fundamental mistake cost them the game’s first goal.  Chandler Stephenson broke up a pass thrown through the middle and headed off on a breakaway, scoring on the play to give Team Red an early 1-0 lead.

Team White evened the contest at a goal apiece when Riley Barber converted a pretty centering feed from Matt Petgrave, but Team Red regained the lead it would not relinquish when Conor MacPhee finished a 2-on-1 break with Travis Boyd.

After Team Red scored again on a goal-mouth scramble to make it 3-1, Stephane Legault made it 4-1 for The Red Men and threatened to turn the game into a rout.  But with last seconds of the period ticking off, Michal Cajkovsky of Team White let fly with a bomb from the left point through a maze of bodies to cut the lead to two goals with 4.3 seconds left in the period.  His was the most animated goal celebration of the day.  At the first intermission, it was Team Red: 4 – Team White: 2.

We should note one other thing about the first period.  Matt Petgrave laid quite a hip check on Brandon Tanev who flew into the air, went completely upside down, skates pointed to the ceiling, and came down in what could have been an unfortunate manner.  But, these being youngsters, he popped up and jumped right back into the play.

Period two started with missed chances on both sides.  Early on, there was a pile up of bodies in front of Team Red goalie Brandon Anderson, with the puck lying still just a foot off the left post, but White could not convert the opportunity before the puck was swept away.  At the other end, Zach Sanford of Team Red had a chance on a backhand to the left of goalie Sergei Kostenko, but his shot hit the near post and bounced away.

At the ten-minute mark (9:47 left, actually), Anderson and Kostenko retired to their respective benches in favor of Louis-Philip Guindon for Team Red and Clarke Saunders for Team White.  It was Team Red taking first advantage of the change in goal, although Saunders was left hanging out to dry on the play.  Caleb Herbert crossed wires with a teammate at the blue line, and the puck slid away from him, outside of his reach just enough for Stephenson to grab it and take off on another breakaway.  He made it 2-for-2 in conversions, and Team Red had a 5-2 lead.

On the next shift, though, Chance Braid got it back for Team White with a put-back from the doorstep to make it 5-3, Team Red.  Later, Stephenson would get his chance for the hat trick with a semi-break, but was unable to convert the opportunity.  He did, however, draw a penalty on the play.  Team Red was not able to convert the man advantage opportunity, but they did carry that 5-3 lead into the second intermission.

The pace seemed to pick up a bit in the third, and it was Team Red with the first early chance.  Andre Burakovsky and Tom Wilson carried the puck in on a 2-on-1 rush, but when Burakovsky slid the puck over to Wilson, Michal Cajkovsky displayed his talent in the defensive end in addition to his booming shot by tying up Wilson before he could get a shot off.

Turnovers, though, were a problem for Team White all day, and they committed another, giving Zach Harnden a chance to display his breakaway skills.  He converted the chance to make it 6-3, Team Red.

With the clock winding down, Team White did create some chances, but in one instance a puck rolled off a stick in the low slot, and in another a one-timer was shanked wide.  That made for a desperate Team White, but they got another chance with a late power play.  It was an opportunity to create a 6-on-4 advantage when they pulled Saunders for the extra attacker.  But despite the two-man advantage in numbers, it was Tom Wilson who would score for Team Red, burying a shorthanded empty net shot to give Team Red their final 7-3 margin.

It was a well-attended contest at KCI, and the boys put on a show.  This might be, as head coach Adam Oates suggested earlier in the week, more of a getting to know sort of week than evaluation – players getting to know the organization and the system, as well as getting valuable advice on their game, their training, and their nutrition, and for the organization to get a closer look at just what they have in terms of prospects.  But for the boys, it is a chance to impress, to perhaps get another look down the road and perhaps a contract, if the fates are kind.  Whatever the motivation, it was a very entertaining contest, indeed.

Washington Capitals: Draft History in Context, Part IV -- The Fourth and Fifth Rounds: Diamonds in the Rough

We have completed three parts in the look at Washington Capitals draft picks over the 2001-2010 period, and now, in Part IV, we will take a look at what we might call the “diamonds in the rough” portion of the draft – the fourth and fifth rounds.  This is a portion of the draft where the odds of making it as a contributing NHL player (by our definition, one who dressed for at least 100 NHL games) decrease markedly.  Whereas almost 20 percent of the players selected in the second and third rounds reached that 100-game threshold, the chances of a player doing so in the fourth and fifth rounds is cut almost in half – 10.3 percent of the players drafted reaching that milestone. Before we get to comparisons with the rest of the league, let us take a look at the Washington Capitals and their fourth and fifth round draft picks over the 2001-2010 period.

If the second and third rounds were something of a “desert” for the Caps in terms of drafting players who made contributions at the NHL level, things were no better in the fourth and fifth rounds of the 2001-2010 period.  Combined, the Caps selected 23 players in those rounds over the ten-year period, three of whom dressed for at least one NHL game.  None made it to the 100 game threshold we established as the basis for a “contributor.” 

Yet.

While it is true that left wing Oskar Osala managed only three games in the NHL (he currently plays for HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk of the Kontinental Hockey League), there are those 57 games played so far by current number one goaltender Braden Holtby.  Selected in the fourth round in 2008 (93^rd overall), Holtby is the third goaltender drafted by the Caps in the 2001-2010 period to appear in at least one NHL game.  To date he has 57 regular season appearances and has posted a respectable record.  Of goaltenders appearing in at least 50 games over their first three seasons since 2000-2001, only two goaltenders – Marty Turco and Tuukka Rask – recorded a better save percentage than Holtby over those first three seasons of their careers.  He is tied for 13^th among that group in goal-against average.

There is also Philipp Grubauer, another goaltender.  His contributions are likely to be some years away, so writing him off as a potential “contributor” is premature.

However, that’s it.  The jury is still out on such draftees as Patrick Wey (115^th overall in 2009) and Caleb Herbert (142^nd overall in 2010), but none of the other 21 players taken in the fourth or fifth round by the Caps have appeared in an NHL game to date. 

So, how does the Caps’ performance in these rounds compare to that of the other 29 teams?  Here are the teams, ranked in order of the number of selections made in the fourth and fifth rounds:

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The Caps rank in the upper half of teams in terms of selections made in the fourth and fifth rounds.  However, they have not had much success in terms of those picks making it to the NHL.  Only two teams have had fewer of their selections in this tranche appear in an NHL game (coincidentally, both of them being former Southeast Division teams – Carolina and Florida), and the Caps are one of only three teams not to have any of their selections reach the 100-games played threshold. 

The Caps have had next to no production out of skaters in this part of the draft, owing to the fact that only one skater – Oskar Osala – played in any NHL games (three in all with a 0-3-3 scoring line).  Even among goalies, though, the Caps’ Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer combined rank only fifth in total games played in this group.  The best that can be said here is that Holtby and Grubauer have their futures ahead of them and might yet be solid and reliable contributors down the road.

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This is not going to be a particular rich source of NHL contributors.  Only the New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks have has as many as five players selected in the fourth and fifth rounds appear in at least 100 games. And as we noted, barely 10 percent of the players taken in these rounds make it to that 100-game mark. 

Then there is the matter of impact players.  Given where teams are drafting, the likelihood of finding an impact player as we defined it in the look at second and third round picks (100 games, 50 goals, 100 points).  We might lower the threshold here to 100 games, 20 goals, and 50 points to find reliable, if not “impact,” NHL players.  Here is that list:

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The likelihood of finding players to meet these criteria is low, but not unheard of. There were 30 players selected by 21 teams who did meet these criteria.  We have to allow for a bit of flexibility here, too, since intuitively one would expect such players to have longer lead times in lower leagues before making their NHL debuts and establishing themselves.  If we were more tolerant in that regard, we might include such players as these:

• Marcus Foligno (Buffalo/104^th overall in 2009; 11-20-31 in 61 games)
• Marcus Kruger (Chicago/149^th overall in 2009; 13-26-39 in 125 games)
• Niklas Hjalmarsson (Chicago/108^th overall in 2005; 9-47-56 in 306 games)
• Craig Smith (Nashville/98^th overall in 2009; 18-30-48 in 106 games)
• Matt Martin (NY Islanders/148^th overall in 2008; 16-25-41 in 201 games)
• Matt Frattin (Toronto/99^th overall in 2007; 15-13-28 in 82 games)

Again, the Capitals are not among the teams having drafted skaters who meet even the lower threshold of reliable player, and it is no certainty that any skaters in their system will reach that level of contribution.  The default answer here is that, well, there are all those first round draft pick encumbering roster spots.  That argument fails to account for: a) the fact that only half of their 16 first round picks over this period are in the Caps system (and that includes Evgeni Kuznetsov), and b) that Caps draftees, even if they had been crowded out on the parent roster, have not caught on with other clubs to make their contributions.  Remember, we are focusing on the players drafted by their clubs, regardless of where they might have moved, not their contributions solely within the systems of the teams that drafted them.

In the end, what we are left with is another example of an unproductive tranche of the draft.  From the second through the fifth rounds over the 2001-2010 period the Capitals drafted 44 players and have had three of them record as many as 100 games in the NHL, only one of whom is with the club today (goalie Michal Neuvirth).  Another goalie – Braden Holtby – appears certain to hit that games-played mark, but the record in drafting skaters has been rough finding diamonds in the rough.